Twining vines are usually very vigorous and Akebia quinata, the five-leaf akebia, is no exception.
A native of China, Korea and Japan, its common name is derived from its compound leaves of five palmately arranged leaflets originating from the same leaf petiole. It grows very rapidly once it becomes well established, growing as much as 15 feet in one year. Trained on a trellis. it will make a good screen.
The five-leaf akebia climbs by twining from left to right like most of the hardy vines except some of the honeysuckles. It is valued for its ornamental foliage that remains late in the season, making it practically a semi-evergreen. The foliage is very dainty, each leaflet being approximately 1 to 2-1/2 inches long, and the twining growth is also attractive.
Like the bittersweet and honeysuckle, akebia, if left uncontrolled, may twine around other plants and choke them to death. Occasionally, long rapid-growing runners are sent out from the base of the plant and they root where they come in contact with moist soil. Consequently, akebia can become a pest under certain conditions.
Trained around a wire or waterspout on the side of a building, it can be kept within hounds and will add materially to the general landscape effect. Some means of support must be provided. and if akebia is planted by the house, the rain-spout or the wire on which it is growing can he laid on the ground when the house is painted. If this proves impractical, cut the vine to within a few feet of the soil early in the spring. It will renew its growth quickly during the same year.
The purple flowers appear almost before the leaves. They are interesting because the pistillate flowers, measuring about 1 inch in diameter, and the small-petaled staminate flowers are usually borne in the same cluster. Seeds may not be produced unless the pollen of one clone is put on the pistillate flowers of another, hut they are not especially ornamental nor desirable, anyway. See photograph above of seeds.
Plant akebia for its ornamental foliage. It has the finest texture of any of the foliage vines that can be grown from the North well into the warmest sections of the South. The roots are easily divided and rooted runners are obtainable.
by W Donald – 64789
